PITTSBURGH - Whatever qualifies as the writing on the wall should probably be ignored when it comes to Flyers hockey.
A team that was humiliated and booed off home ice after it was outscored 10-1 in Games 3 and 4 had just about everything working against it during Friday night's elimination game in Pittsburgh.
The eulogy had been drafted and all it needed was Sidney Crosby's finishing touches in front of a sellout crowd of screaming, yellow towel-waving fans. The Penguins were ready to bury the bodies and move on to the next round.
"There's a lot of commotions," Sean Couturier said. "When s--- hits the fan and things start not going our way, you've got to kind of focus and stick together."
Couturier was the catalyst in Friday's 4-2 Game 5 victory (see observations). The Flyers' center knew not long after the morning skate, that regardless of his health, he was determined to play. Claude Giroux even conjured up the memory of an old teammate as additional incentive.
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"I told him the story of (Chris) Pronger in Game 6 in Buffalo (2011), and he surprised us at 3:30 after our naps that he was going to be in," Giroux said. "Before he went on the ice, I said, ‘You gonna pull a Prongs or what?' And I told him the story and he texted me right after the morning skate and said, ‘I'm pulling a Prongs.' So it was pretty funny."
Despite playing seven and a half minutes below his playoff average, Couturier gutted out nearly 17 minutes of ice time (nearly seven minutes on the penalty kill alone) and scored the game-winning goal with 1:15 remaining in regulation.
"Coots, what he did, he's a warrior tonight and obviously our MVP," Shayne Gostisbehere said. "Just him being out there, it's huge for us. I think the penalty kill was phenomenal. I think they're the real reason why he won that game."
Valtteri Filppula's shorthanded goal was arguably the turning point with the Penguins threatening to take a two-goal lead late in the second period. While one was left wondering about the Flyers' line combinations, head coach Dave Hakstol trusted Filppula enough to center the top line with Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
It was the 34-year-old center, not Crosby, Evgeni Malkin or Giroux, who stepped up offensively in Game 5 with his most productive game as a Flyer, posting a goal and two assists.
"I don't want to start ranking games and stuff like that, but Fil was good," Hakstol said. "You've got to do that, especially at playoff time, when injuries are part of it. When your roll changes a little bit, you've got to step forward."
And before the opening puck drop, it was Michal Neuvirth, not Brian Elliott, who led the team onto the ice. Neuvirth's last start came in Colorado on March 28 and he hadn't played a game in net from start to finish in over two months.
His glove save on Crosby inside the final minute sealed the Penguins' fate.
"He looked great and looked really comfortable in there," Couturier said. "He had to fight hard for a lot of pucks, and he made some big saves at the end and you can't ask more from a goalie in the playoffs."
The Flyers are now 60 minutes (and possibly more) away from forcing a winner-take-all Game 7.
Two days ago, that was a scenario nobody could draw up.
